Menticide
by Cybat
Summary: Mentis means mind, cide means kill. In other words, mind control. Eggman uses a new machine to make Sonic and the others obey him. Even after his plot is foiled, will he take some of the heroes down with him? Finished!
1. Divide and Conquer

(A/N: This is my first Sonic fic, but I wrote several Super Smash Bros. fics (two with Sonic characters as guest stars) a very long time ago and am working on one Magic: the Gathering fic. This fic takes place after Sonic Heroes (and is unrelated to Sonic Battle.)

Menticide

Chapter 1 – Divide and Conquer

"Charmy, go to bed!"

"No, I'm not tired!"

"Just because we helped to save the world last month doesn't mean you won't be exhausted tomorrow morning. We might get hired again tomorrow."

"Oh come on, we haven't had any real work in months!"

"_Real_ work? Our last 'client' paid, didn't he?"

"I don't care what you say, I'm not going to bed!"

Espio smiled as he dozed off to sleep, listening to Vector and Charmy argue as usual. It was certainly true that no one seemed to have any need for detective services lately, but the chameleon was enjoying the time off. Even ninjas need to relax sometimes.

"No, _you're_ stupid!"

"Argh! Go to bed right now!"

"Make me!"

"You don't really want me to do that…"

"You scared?"

"I think you're the one who's…"

Their voices became gibberish as Espio drifted further and further into sleep. He became invisible out of habit, and pulled the blanket over his body. Soon all Espio could hear were grunts and squeals. Wait a minute-

"Aaah! Who are you? Oof…"

"Eeek! Help! Ow!"

Espio leapt up and tossed the blanket neatly onto a nearby chair, in one fluid motion. Cautiously becoming visible, he peered outside into the pitch black night to see a figure carrying his unconscious friends. Aiming a shuriken, he decided to give the assailant fair warning before attacking.

"Hey!" he shouted, drawing back his throwing arm.

The figure turned around. Espio gasped as the silhouette in profile suddenly became unmistakable. 

"Sonic?!" Espio lowered his arm just long enough.

The hedgehog winked, grinned, and dashed away. Espio gave chase but found himself at the edge of a tall cliff. Looking around, he could see no sign of Sonic or his friends. Shaking his head, he jumped down and grabbed hold of a tree trunk extending from the precipice. Balanced precariously, he acted on a hunch and launched a dagger at the edge of the cliff. A fairly large rock broke off and began tumbling down the side. Espio followed, making death-defying leaps but always finding a flat area or trunk to steady himself. When the rock hit the ground, a trap door opened. Espio nodded, pleased that he had been correct, and jumped down into the darkness.

"Sonic! Someone opened the door!" 

_That was Eggman's voice_, Espio thought, and returned to invisibility. The lights came on around him, and Espio could see Eggman and Sonic standing in front of the boulder. Espio noticed a strange device atop Sonic's head. 

"Just a rock," Sonic remarked. He walked up to it and punched. The rock instantly shattered. Espio barely had time to avoid the fragments; a piece of rock bouncing off of thin air would be very suspicious. When he landed, Espio gaped at the hedgehog's might. _He wasn't that strong before! Where's Mighty when you need him?_

Eggman looked apprehensive, but he nodded and turned around. "Good. I knew that chameleon wouldn't be fast enough to keep up with you. Now come, let's take care of these detectives."

Espio followed the pair to a very complex-looking computer. He turned to see Charmy and Vector chained to the wall, unconscious. The same device that Sonic wore appeared on their heads. _Mind control?_ Espio reasoned. _This isn't good. But I can't attempt to save them now, I might hurt them. I'm going to need some help._

As Eggman and Sonic worked diligently on the computer, Espio darted away and leapt up to the surface. He was grateful for Eggman's one-track mind; the scientist had been so busy developing the mind control machine that he apparently forgot to make the trap door close by itself.

"Is he gone?" Eggman whispered.

"Yep, just left."

"It certainly was clever of him to drop that rock on the door. If you weren't here, I wouldn't have suspected a thing."

"Should I get 'im?"

"No, I need you here. There are others, you know."

"Shadow!"

"Omega, you're back already? Did you find Eggman?"

"Negative. Eggman is beyond the scope of my sensors. Mission aborted."

"But that's impossible. He couldn't have just disappeared."

"Certainly not. But that appears to be precisely what he has done."

Shadow shook his head. "No sign of Rouge either, I take it."

"Negative."

"Wonderful," he grumbled, scanning the sky in the small hope of seeing one of Eggman's robots. "Well, I think we should go look for him together."

"May I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"What were doing here all alone while I was searching for the doctor?"

Shadow scowled, crossed his arms, and turned away. "Just…thinking. Let's go."

"Wait! Shadow!"

The hedgehog spun around to see Espio racing toward him. _Strange_, Shadow thought, _I never see him without the other two._

"Greetings, Espio," Omega greeted, not recognizing the concern on Espio's face.

"Yeah, hi. Listen, we have a big problem."

"So I gathered. Where's your comic relief?" Shadow asked.

"They were kidnapped. By Sonic."

"Sonic?" Omega and Shadow replied simultaneously. Omega spoke first. "You must have been mistaken. Perhaps your eyes were tired."

"Omega, he's a _ninja_," Shadow rolled his eyes. "Wait-did Sonic have something on his head?"

Espio nodded. "I think Eggman has developed mind control."

After a few moments of nervous silence, Omega pointed out, "Since I have no mind, I shouldn't be worried."

"Well, I would have said the same about Charmy," Espio replied without missing a beat. As Shadow raised an eyebrow, Espio grinned and said, "See? I can be comic relief too."

"Hey, you! Stop right there!"

"Sorry, but I'm in a hurry," Rouge answered the imposing guard robot. "I'll stop by on my way out, OK?"

"Hey, you! Stop right there!"

Rouge sighed. The doctor had been working on something feverishly since he escaped the Chaotix, and his other work had suffered for it. She pulled out a fake ID and flashed it for the robot. 

"OK, go ahead."

"Thanks ever so much. You should think about asking for a raise," Rouge rolled her eyes and stepped into the computer lab. Eggman had moved into this building temporarily, but quickly left a few days later to hide underground from Omega's sensors. Fortunately for Rouge, he had not taken the computers here off the network.

"All right, let's see what you're up to this time," she said out loud, entering the password that Eggman had not changed in years. It still worked. "Boy, for someone with a 300 IQ, you sure make a lot of stupid mistakes."

Searching impatiently past all of Eggman's failed experiments, she finally was able to identify the most current project that the doctor had undertaken. When she read the two-word title of the file, she gasped audibly.

"I…don't believe it!"

"Enough fooling around," Shadow commented. "Lead us to Eggman, Espio."

Although a bit disappointed that no one laughed at his joke, Espio nodded and motioned toward the direction he had come from. "It's not too far, if we hurry, so-"

"What's the rush?"

The voice came from behind them, but Espio recognized it immediately. "Knuckles?"

The echidna dropped from a nearby wall. Espio squinted a bit when looking at him, while Omega gave the reply. "We must eliminate Eggman."

"Right, of course. Mind if I tag along?"

"Shouldn't you be guarding the Master Emerald or something?" Shadow asked disdainfully. "We don't know where Rouge is, you know."

Knuckles shook his head, and his locks bounced around just enough.

"Say, what's that on your head?" Espio growled.

"Wh-what? Just some jewelry-"

Espio hurled a shuriken at Knuckles' cheek, seeing a familiar metallic device covering part of it. "Thought you could hide that under your 'hair', did you?"

Knuckles reacted faster than anyone expected, punching the shuriken out of the air before it reached his face. "Your eyes are better than we thought. But that won't help you. I'll destroy you all!"

"You're joking, right?" Shadow jeered. "All three of us?"

Espio became invisible, and Omega fired a volley of bullets at Knuckles. Shadow was surprised to see Knuckles dart aside quickly enough to dodge the projectiles, and he dashed forward to deliver his own chaos. Knuckles slammed the ground, and a couple of fireballs slammed into Omega. Before Shadow could reach Knuckles, the echidna whirled around and swung his powerful fist. Shadow heard a crack and saw a small indentation form in a nearby wall. 

_Espio?_ Shadow was somewhat worried now. If Eggman could make this guy faster than Espio and able to see him, could he be-

"What are you waiting for, Shadow?" Knuckles taunted. "Come and get some!"

Shadow punched at Knuckles, but the rodent managed to move out of the way and grab Shadow's wrist. "You think you're faster than me?" Shadow scowled.

"I know I am," came the reply.

Before either combatant could attack, however, something bright and blue flew between them. Shadow pulled his wrist out of Knuckles' grip as the blue object charged into the mind control victim.

"Shadow! What's going on?"

Shadow easily recognized this high-pitched voice, and identified the blue object as well. "Cream and Cheese. Impeccable timing."

"Thank you, Shadow. Why was Knuckles attacking you? I didn't want to hurt him too badly."

"I'll explain in a minute. See if Espio is OK."

Shadow skated over to Omega, who was recovering fairly quickly. The robot whirred and beeped, then spoke. "All systems online. Enemy's strength capabilities severely underestimated. Prepare to-"

"Don't worry, we beat him," Shadow interrupted. "The fight's over."

Omega paused for a moment, but continued his appraisal. "Espio's mind control hypothesis seems to be unsupported. Knuckles' strength, speed and vision were far above his standard. I propose that it was a robot."

"No offense, Omega," Espio groaned, slowly coming to, "but I recognized his voice easily. Eggman doesn't really have wonderful speech technology, as you may have noticed."

"I am not sure how long ago I was created, Espio. Improvements in technology are probable."

"Amy and Big are on their way," Cream announced, trying to change the subject because she was thoroughly confused. "I flew ahead to make sure you were all right."

"You think we're going to stand around and wait for them?" Shadow sneered. "Look, Knuckles has already teleported away. If Eggman gets Vector and Charmy working for him too, we-"

"Working for him?"

"Be more patient, Shadow," Espio advised in a whisper. "I'll explain our situation to the princess."

"I hope Cream's OK," Amy said, unable to hide her worry.

"Don't worry, she's very strong," Big replied, fiddling with his fishing pole. "Don't you think so, Froggy?"

"I know, Big, but she doesn't know what she's up against. And Cheese was so sad to leave Chocola in the garden," Amy answered, not waiting for a response from the frog.

"Hey, look, it's Tails!" Big shouted suddenly, pointing to the sky.

Indeed, the tan fox was hovering above them with a worried look on his face. Something on his head reflected the sun's rays, and Amy shielded her eyes.

"There you are!" Tails shouted. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"What are you wearing on your head, Tails?" Amy demanded.

As Tails descended, Amy could clearly see a strange metal device on his head. "What, this? It's just…Sonic has one too. It's the newest style."

"Oh, OK," she said. If Sonic wore it, it couldn't be bad. 

"We were going to help Shadow," Big announced proudly.

"Yeah, he's fine now. You need to come with me. Sonic is in danger!"

"What? Sonic?" Amy gasped, realizing that her fantasies could soon come true. If she saved Sonic, he would have no choice but to-

"But what about Cream?" Big asked.

"Never mind, she's strong like you said. Let's go, Big!"

Tails turned away with a malicious grin. "Follow me."

(A/N: Well, it doesn't look good. Will Shadow, Omega, Espio, Cream and Rouge be the only ones who escape Eggman's sinister machine? What will Rouge discover in the lab? And how did Eggman manage to capture Sonic, Tails and Knuckles? Find out sometime later. Don't forget to r&r!)


	2. Confrontations

Chapter 2 – Confrontations

Eggman laughed maniacally as he watched Tails lead Amy and Big into his trap. The small group of heroes who remained to oppose him was scarcely intimidating, considering the power he had on his side. He suddenly remembered something.

"Sonic! I think we've given the thief enough time to snoop. Retrieve her."

"You got it, doc," Sonic replied, leaping out of the trap door.

Turning to the captured detectives, Eggman flipped a switch and watched their eyes open. The devices worked perfectly as always.

"You're finally awake," Eggman commented. The detectives turned to him.

"Yep. I told you I wasn't going to be tired," Charmy grinned, turning to Vector.

"Enough of this! Who do you serve?" Eggman demanded, just to be certain.

In unison, they replied, "Dr. Eggm-Robotn-Egg-Robo-Eggma-Robotni-Eg-Rob-Eggma-Ro-"

"I thought I fixed that glitch," Eggman grumbled, turning to the computer and pressing a few keys.

"Eggman," the heroes finished, looking proud of themselves.

"Good. Now go pick up where Knuckles left off."

Knuckles stepped out of the teleporting mechanism after regaining his strength, scowling. "Why send them? I can do the job myself."

"Evidently not," the doctor replied. "Besides, I need you to help me set up the equipment for when the new arrivals get here. Push that chair out of the way, would you?"

"Of course, doctor," Knuckles glared, clenching his fists. "But don't be surprised if those guys don't get the job done."

Rouge stood in front of the computer screen, marveling at Eggman's work. _My boss will certainly be interested in this_, she mused, preparing to email a copy of the documents to herself. 

"Hey, you! Stop right th-"

Rouge whirled around to see the guard robot explode dramatically. Cursing, she stood in front of the computer to guard it long enough to complete the transfer. A whoosh of air behind her suggested she had already failed.

"Sorry, Rouge, I can't let you do that," Sonic taunted, jumping down behind Rouge to shut down the computer and immediately flipping up to stand face-to-face with her.

Rouge immediately noticed the device on Sonic's head. "What makes you think you can stop me?"

"As a matter of fact, I already did. The doctor just changed his password, and you'll never remember what you learned after I'm through with you. Now come with me."

"You wish."

"You realize you don't stand a chance, don't you?" Sonic sneered, striking a pose. "You won't even be able to see what hit you."

"If you were an agent, you'd know we can see quite a bit," Rouge shot back, ripping the mouse of the nearest computer off of its cord and throwing it above Sonic's head. 

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert," an electronic voice announced repeatedly.

"You hit the deactivated motion sensor, triggering the alarm," Sonic narrated, looking impressed. "You know, you're an intruder too."

Smiling, Rouge pulled out her card. "You'd be surprised how many robots I've fooled with this card."

A group of guard robots descended the stairs, easily finding the source of the alarm. Flashing her card, Rouge shouted, "Get him!"

Sonic chuckled and shook his head. "This used to be Eggman's lab, Rouge. I can prove that I work for him."

"Doesn't matter. The government owns this place now, so I have more jurisdiction here than you do."

"Fine. We'll do this the hard way."

Rouge considered leaving, but she knew that if she fought Sonic on her own, her chances of winning were slim. The robots charged at Sonic, who seemed not at all worried about the attack.

"Well?" Shadow snarled. "Where are your friends?"

Cream flinched. "Please don't use that tone of voice. I don't know where they could have gone."

Omega contributed, "Neither Amy Rose nor Big appears on my sensors."

"I think we should keep moving," Espio commented. "It's only a matter of time before Eggman-"

"Before Eggman what?" a taunting voice said behind them. "Finds you? Way too late for that."

"Vector," Espio said sadly, recognizing the voice and spinning around deftly. "Don't make me hurt you."

"You don't stand a chance!" Charmy stated; to Espio's chagrin, his voice had not changed in the process either.

"See that?" Espio whispered to Omega. "It's Charmy's personality exactly. No way Eggman could copy that."

"I am not convinced," came the whispered reply. Loudly, the robot said, "You are outnumbered, and this time we are prepared for battle. Chances of victory for you are low."

"Enough talk. Let's end this," Shadow said menacingly, jumping forward and entering a fighting stance. "Cream, I think there's a good chance Eggman has your friends too."

Knowing Shadow was right, she shouted angrily, "It's not nice to trick people. I'll show you our power! Let's go, Cheese."

"You talk too much," Charmy replied, somewhat ironically. "Let's rock!"

"Are you sure this is the right way, Tails?" Amy asked for the third time.

"Of course I'm sure. I saw Sonic with my own two eyes somewhere around here. We're getting closer."

"I miss Cream," Big said sadly. Froggy jumped up and down on his shoulder to cheer him up, but the cat was too worried to notice.

"Don't worry, Big," Tails said, barely able to hide his malice. "You'll see her again soon."

They continued walking for a bit in silence, until they reached a small clearing in the forest. Amy looked around, then lowered her head a bit and watched her shadow. Next to her she could see Big's enormous silhouette and Froggy still jumping. Tails's shadow was bigger and harder to make out, and it looked like there was something in the air next to him-

"Amy! Look out!" Big shouted.

Looking up, Amy saw a huge army of robots emerging from a secret trap door in the clearing. Tails laughed evilly.

"You fell right into our trap. Prepare to meet Eggman!"

"You tricked us!" Amy glared, readying her hammer. She didn't know if she was strong enough to win, but she was sure now that Sonic was in danger, and she had to save him.

Froggy gave out a small cry and hopped away. Big nodded and whispered, "I'll see you soon, Froggy." He pulled out his fishing rod and attached a spiked ball to the end. "I have some smashing to do."

Eggman laughed, watching the viewscreens. "Perfect! All of the players are in position. I-"

"All except me, you mean," Knuckles grumbled.

"Knuckles, how many times do I have to explain this to you-"

"Explaining won't help," Knuckles interrupted. "I just want to fight."

"You did."

"Yeah, and I got hit by a cheap shot, so you teleported me away instantly so they couldn't meddle with your precious device."

"I can't help it if you-"

"Send me out. Sonic may need help, or-"

"What you don't seem to understand here, Knuckles, is that I am in charge and you work for me. If you are unhappy with the way I'm treating you, we can always take a trip to the back of the lab…"

Knuckles glared. "You wouldn't do that."

"Try me. I'll have eleven others."

Unable to come up with a reply, Knuckles growled and turned away to continue his manual labor. _If you're not more careful, you'll have a lot less than that_, he thought bitterly, clenching his fist again. Eggman shook his head at Knuckles' impertinence, but he had anticipated this side-effect of the machine. It was not difficult as much as tedious to keep these fools in line.

Rouge hovered just above Sonic until he was about to strike a robot, at which point she slammed him with a powerful kick. Despite Sonic's immensely powerful punches that sent robots flying, there was enough distraction for Rouge to send an important message out. When one of the defeated robots' detonation finally knocked Sonic out, Rouge started to run. She sighed when she saw the hedgehog stand up in the reflection in one of the computer screens. She could finish this fight herself.

(A/N: Well, all the fights are set up. What will happen to our heroes? What was Rouge's important message? Will Shadow and co. defeat their adversaries and find Eggman's base? And so on. Find out sometime later.)


	3. Fierce Competition

(A/N: If you like this fic and SSB, check out my SSB 7-fic series via my profile. While they're not as well written as this might be, I'm always happy to see comments about them.

Also, whoops, html doesn't register white space. I'll make some kind of division between scenes this time, sorry.)

Chapter 3 – Fierce Competition

Espio shook his head as he watched Vector and Charmy prepare for attack. This was wrong, all wrong, and he had no drive to fight like he usually did. He couldn't attack his friends who he had been with for so long. Looking around, he saw that Shadow and Omega had no such inhibitions. Understandable, since Espio and his friends had already grappled with the hedgehog and robot. 

"I'll ask you one more time, Mr. Vector. Please leave!"

"Give up, Cream. Politeness isn't going to win you any battles," Espio advised.

"Or friends," Vector sneered, spitting a bubble of gum at the heroes. 

Espio easily popped the bubble with his dagger, and the battle was joined. Cream sent Cheese charging at Charmy, but the nimble bee backflipped quickly and dodged the powerful chao. Omega fired a volley of rockets, and Shadow focused his Chaos Control power. Vector stepped forward, biting the air menacingly, and invited Charmy to spin around near his mouth. Espio recognized the attack, of course, but the detectives moved far faster than Espio was used to. Vector fired Charmy at Espio with a yell, and Espio heard only "What? They hit him?" before blacking out.

----------

Big swung his fishing pole around, eliminating a good number of robots, but he recovered too slowly. Amy swung her hammer desperately, but there were far too many robots to beat. Tails hovered overhead chuckling, occasionally dropping a few decoy rings to hit the heroes. 

"This isn't working, Big. We've got to get out of here!" Amy shouted desperately, pivoting and starting to run the other way.

"OK," the cat agreed, but he was far too slow to escape the army of robots emerging from Eggman's base.

"Big? Are you OK?"

"Don't worry about me-" he grunted, fighting off the robots. "Just get out of here!"

"Big…" she tried to voice her thanks, but was drowned out by the hum of flying robots above her. Tails was flanked by a dozen of the airborne threats, and as Amy started to run, they started to fire.

----------

Rouge's round two with Sonic ended fairly quickly. Soon after the hedgehog disappeared, she summoned her messenger to complete the important message she had partially sent before. She knew it would take some time before the message was received, but it was too important to ignore. She only hoped the others could survive long enough.

----------

Espio awoke to the sound of evil laughter. As his eyes reluctantly opened, he realized he was being carried. Instinctively, he pulled out a dagger and stabbed the arm that held him. Vector roared in anger.

"You little-"

Espio threw a dagger at Vector, trying to disable the device, but Vector and Charmy teleported away immediately, carrying Shadow and Cream. Omega lay deactivated nearby.

_If only I knew anything about robotics_, Espio thought, _I'm going to need some help here_.

He wished he had been conscious to see the fight to the end, but he was glad he woke up just in time. A familiar sound interrupted his reflection.

_Bullet fire_, he realized, and became invisible. _ It's coming from over here_.

Following the sound to a nearby forest, he leapt into the treetops and prepared to help out. He was slightly disheartened to see possibly his only ally.

----------

Amy ran as fast as she could, but the robots were gaining fast. Suddenly, one of the robots exploded. Amy whirled around to see another two robots detonate apparently on their own. Tails glared and flew forward, but he fell unconscious. After all of the robots were gone, Amy stared suspiciously into the air.

"Sonic?" she asked hopefully.

Espio appeared in midair. "No," he said quietly, landing in front of Amy. "Let's go."

He grabbed her wrist and dashed forward, in the general direction of Eggman's trap door. Amy struggled and shouted, "No! Big-"

"Lost cause," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "We're likely the only ones left."

Amy stopped struggling and looked at him sadly. "Cream…"

"She put up a good fight," Espio said to make her feel better; of course he had no idea.

"OK, let go of me, I can run by myself. I'm not just the damsel in distress anymore, buddy."

"Glad to hear it. But I'm not holding on to you to protect you," he replied, stopping to turn around. "I'm faster than you are, and-"

"Now wait just a minute. I don't think you-"

Espio stopped her comeback with his hand, reaching slowly behind him to pull out a shuriken. In a fluid motion he whirled around and stopped his wrist just before tossing the weapon at the intruder.

"No, don't!" Amy shouted, looking up in the air. "That's Chocola."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's Cheese's brother. We saved him from Metal Sonic."

"Oh, of course," Espio replied, not understanding at all. "Why would he want to-wait, he's carrying something."

"It's a package," Amy realized, taking it from the chao. "Thanks, Chuck!"

Espio rolled his eyes as Chocola flew away. Amy opened the box to see a collection of very bizarre devices and a short note.

To whom it may concern:

These MCPE caps will help you against Eggman.

3, Rouge

"Rouge?!" Amy gasped, dropping the paper. "Why would she-"

"You've known her for longer than I have," Espio interrupted, gazing at the strange "caps" in the box. "Can we trust her?"

"Well," Amy said thoughtfully, "if the MC part stands for Mind Control, we probably have no choice."

Espio was impressed; he had not made that connection. As a ninja, though, he had no trouble hiding his surprise. "Yes, good point. We'd better put them on."

----------

Eggman laughed as Vector and Charmy appeared with their hostages. "Excellent work. Without Tails, they won't be able to reactivate Omega, and there are only two left."

"Aren't you forgetting about Rouge, boss?" Sonic leered, grinning widely at the captives. 

Eggman grinned as well. "She's harmless. All we have to worry about is Espio and Amy, and personally, I'm not worried. Now take them to the machine!"

Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles escorted Shadow, Cream, and Big to a large machine in the middle of the base. Shadow struggled a bit, but there was clearly nothing he could do to escape the powerful slaves.

"Soon no one will stand in my way!" Eggman shouted, laughing maniacally as usual.

----------

"Where are we going, Espio?" Amy asked after following the chameleon for a while.

"To Eggman's base, of course," he replied somewhat disdainfully.

"What? What do you think two of us can do against them?!"

"Well, if you're right about these caps, we might have a chance," he responded in the same tone. "Even if you're not, we really don't have any choice, do we?"

Amy started to say something, but could not form a complete thought. She shook her head nervously.

"We can do this," Espio assured her, realizing she wasn't as optimistic as he was. "Only we can save Sonic and the others."

Nodding, Amy clenched her fist. "Eggman, you're mine!"

(A/N: No, there won't be any romance in this fic. This pair happened purely out of circumstance, and both parties involved know this. Anyway, imagine going on a date with a ninja…

Anyway, will Espio and Amy alone be able to stop Eggman? Is Rouge really harmless? Will anyone escape Eggman's machine? Why was Rouge's messenger Chocola? Why do I ask more questions than I answer every chapter? Find out (all except the last one, of course) next time!)


	4. The Plot Twist

(A/N: Thanks for reviewing, everyone. Chaos Flower, I have no intention of putting in any spoilers (I almost did in chapter 1). That's why I distanced this fic from Sonic Battle; I knew it'd be hard to write about that without spoilers. D.W. and Freak of Nature, thanks for your continued support. And now, the beginning of The Plot Twist.)

Chapter 4: The Plot Twist

(A/N: OK, so I'm not big on chapter titles.)

"There, they're coming right toward us. Can I fight now?" Knuckles growled impatiently. "You can't tell me you're going to let them down here."

"Quit your whining, echidna. I have plans for these two; did you ever stop to consider that maybe I _want_them to enter my domain?"

This retort silenced Knuckles for only a moment. "Then I get to fight them, right?"

"Hey, get over it, gramps, we did what you couldn't," Charmy interrupted, not needing to change his normal tone of voice to be taunting and obnoxious.

Eggman glared at Charmy but grabbed Knuckles, who was clearly livid. "If you touch that bee I will make sure that you end up in the back of the lab. I told you already I have everything worked out. You'll have plenty of time to fight after we have Espio and Amy."

Clearly dissatisfied at this answer, Knuckles sulked away, and Shadow replaced him next to Eggman. "So who does get to fight these two?" he asked calmly, striking his most intimidating pose.

"Not you either, sorry," Eggman rolled his eyes. "Big will take care of Espio, and Sonic will confront Amy."

"Why-"

"Because, you meddling hedgehog, even Big is quick enough to fight the chameleon now, and Espio will let his guard down. As for sending Sonic against Amy, I think that choice is pretty clear. Besides, Sonic had the easiest job last time-"

"Sonic had the easiest job? Didn't Rouge beat him?" Shadow wondered, confused.

Eggman smiled. "Of course, silly me. Nonetheless, he will deal with the chameleon, and that's settled." Pausing in thought for a bit, he turned around. "Knuckles, I may have a job for you after all."

* * *

  


"We're almost there, keep your guard up," Espio muttered, looking around cautiously as they approached the clearing that hid Eggman's trap door.

"OK," Amy acknowledged, imitating Espio and checking her surroundings. When she faced forward again, she was surprised to have a clear view of the cliff. "_Espio_!" she yelled, realizing he had become invisible and abandoned her.

At the yell, Eggman's trap door opened. _Perfect_, Espio thought. _She'd only get in my way down here_. He leapt down behind Big and Sonic, who didn't notice him.

"S-Sonic!" Amy gasped.

"Where's your friend?" Big glared, brandishing his fishing pole menacingly (A/N: don't ask).

"H-he's already gone," Amy replied, not showing her fear. "I can t-take both of you!"

"You must be joking," Sonic disagreed. "You don't stand a chance with me, Amy, fighting or marrying."

_I won't let him get to me_, Amy told herself. _Sonic will be so proud of me if I save him from Eggman now_!

"Enough fooling around, you're mine!" Sonic yelled, charging forward. Amy barely had time to flinch before Sonic was right on top of her. Just then, she realized he wasn't moving. She also realized someone was grabbing her arm.

"Chaos Control!"

"Shadow! You saved me!" Sonic and Big were frozen stiff. Amy, in contact with Shadow, was unaffected. However, Shadow clearly still had Eggman's device on his head. "How-"

"After Espio was knocked out, Chocola swooped in with one MCPE cap for me. I put it on just before Charmy knocked me out, so I pretended to be under Eggman's control for a while."

"That's great! But why didn't Rouge-"

"We honestly have no idea. By the way, Espio did the right thing by going ahead. He can climb around on the walls and make it very difficult for anyone to find him; you'd almost certainly get in his way."

Amy sighed, knowing Shadow was right, but this was clearly the demise of her heroic fantasies. "How long will they be frozen?"

"Not much longer. We just need to buy Espio enough time to shut them down."

* * *

  


Espio crawled around the ceiling, ducking around corners when anyone looked his way. He was fairly certain no one had seen him yet, but he hadn't found Eggman either.

"Where's Shadow?!"

Ah, there's Eggman.

"Look at this," Tails scowled, pointing to the viewscreen. Sonic and Big had just awoken and Shadow was battling them fiercely.

"A shame," Eggman commented, "But we have more important things to worry about. Find the chameleon."

Tails nodded, looking around carefully. Espio snuck around until he reached Eggman and the master computer. Suddenly he heard a gasp; had someone heard him? He turned around carefully to see Vector glaring at him. Before either of them could react, a red flash charged at Vector, knocking him over. Knuckles silently battered Vector into silence, and turned his head to wink at Espio. Thoroughly confused, Espio continued forward until he was just within reach of the computer.

"Knuckles, what are you doing?" Eggman shouted furiously, holding a strange-looking gun. "I warned you about fighting your allies!" He aimed the gun straight at Knuckles' head.

_Great_, Espio thought. _He may be my enemy, but he did save me. Besides, once we get those devices off he'll thank me. Well, probably not, but still_…

"No, I was just-" Knuckles began to protest, but Eggman fired. Espio leapt off the wall to push Knuckles out of the way. Eggman grinned widely, and Knuckles swung his fist powerfully. Caught off guard, Espio was hit squarely, and slammed into a wall for a second time. He felt his consciousness fading, and he reverted to visibility. Knuckles and Eggman were laughing evilly.

"Impeccable acting as usual," Knuckles complimented.

"I hope you've fought enough to satisfy you for today," Eggman smiled.

Espio was shocked. They had tricked him, almost effortlessly. All the time off was definitely getting to him. He knew he was caught, but he struggled to stand up to see how Amy was faring.

Noticing this, Eggman chuckled again. "Don't worry about your friend, she's already taken care of."

"-aos Control!" Shadow teleported in mid-shout holding Amy and her hammer firmly.

"You tricked me too!" Amy squirmed, her voice thick with contempt. "But the cap-"

"Sorry, I'm afraid those MCPE caps are really quite useless," a familiar voice said behind them.

"_Rouge_?!" Espio, Amy, and the newest slaves gasped. Rouge was indeed floating in front of them, wearing one of Eggman's devices.

"Game over, Espio and Amy," Eggman leered as the others forcibly attached the heroes to the device.

(A/N: Well, it looks like the end for our heroes. Knuckles and Shadow's deceptions leave these two trapped in Eggman's machine. Who can save them now? Will evil triumph? And what is up with Rouge, anyway? Stay tuned!)


	5. The Menticide Plot

(A/N: Well, it doesn't look good, does it? Cardlordandmasteryugi, don't worry, I won't write a fic like that. As SonicLover pointed out, the situation is never hopeless. Anyway, here's the next chapter!)

Chapter 5: The Menticide Plot

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" Espio asked, keeping an air of bravado for Amy's benefit.

"Just quit talking, you fool," Eggman retorted, pressing buttons on a nearby computer. "You won't escape this time."

Espio looked away to avoid meeting Eggman's triumphant eyes. Suddenly, he spied something in the back that made him gasp audibly.

"What?" Amy whispered, still trying to wriggle free of the restraints.

"Look down there," Espio replied, calm again.

Amy followed Espio's gaze to the back of the lab, past all of the unused machinery, to see what appeared to be a cage. "Who's in it?" she muttered. "I can't see that far."

Espio had to hide his shock. Certainly his ninja eyes were better suited to night vision, but it wasn't _that_ dark…

"Enough of your chatter!" Eggman shouted, raising his finger above the button to start the process.

Amy paid no attention; she squinted and looked back until she could see a familiar outline in the cage. "_Cream_?!"

Eggman looked up, distracted, as the Cream in front of the heroes smiled evilly. "So, you figured it out."

"You haven't been using mind control at all, have you." Espio's sentence was not a question. "That's why the 'MCPE' caps were useless."

"But why would you want us to think-" Amy stopped, having realized the answer to her question.

Eggman nodded. "Obviously you wouldn't want to fight one of your dear friends. While I did enhance their strength and speed somewhat, you all subconsciously perceived them as stronger since you didn't want to fight them."

"So this-"

"Cloning," Eggman interrupted Espio. "The real heroes stay in the back, in cages. It works quite well, but the clones get far too much of their model's personality."

"Too much? What are you implying?" Knuckles growled.

----------

As they talked, the false Cream looked up, confused. "What's wrong, Cheese?"

Cheese, who had managed to find Cream in the base after she teleported away, was extremely confused to note that there were two Creams in his presence. He made a quick decision.

----------

"Enough talk," Eggman scowled. "It doesn't matter that you know our plans; soon your clones will help me take over the world, while you stay here guarded by my best robots."

"Your robots can't hold us!" Amy shouted.

"I think they can, little girl. Especially if they wear the performance-enhancing devices I've given to all of the clones."

Espio nodded in comprehension again. "They looked like mind control devices, but they just made them stronger."

"Correct," Eggman smiled, aiming his finger again. "Now-"

He was interrupted by a loud crash. Eggman whirled around to see Cheese charging toward the back of the lab, breaking open the real Cream's cage and the controls for the other cages.

"NO!" Eggman shouted, lowering his finger, but a glove caught his hand.

"Looks like you lose again, doctor," Shadow said menacingly, after teleporting across the base.

The real heroes dashed toward the machine in the middle, while Shadow released Espio and Amy. Eggman gathered his clone army behind him.

"You'll never get out of here alive," he predicted. "Get them!"

The nine clones charged at the eleven true heroes.

----------

"Thanks, Cheese!" Cream said politely, and the others echoed her sentiments. Turning to her double as the two groups reached each other, Cream shouted, "There's no way you can beat us!"

"I feel that that statement is in error-" Cream's clone began to say, but she was silenced when Cheese slammed into her with all his might.

Shadow faced down his doppelganger. "You're not even good enough to be my fake," he scowled, charging forward with a light dash.

"You should know there's only one Sonic!" Sonic shouted, spin dashing at the false Sonic.

"Amy, help these guys. I'll get Eggman," Espio suggested, watching his friends' attacks barely faze the powerful clones.

Amy nodded, and turned to hit the fake Shadow in the back of the head. "That's for tricking me!" she yelled.

---------

"You've failed again, doctor," Espio said, cornering Eggman in front of his machine. "There's no way out this time."

However, Eggman did not seem to be the least bit concerned. "You heroes are always so optimistic."

Somewhat surprised by the doctor's unusual calm, Espio pointed out, "I don't see any way that you could escape this, considering we're about to eradicate your precious clones."

"First of all, you were in a far worse situation than I was not two minutes ago, and if not for that accursed chao, I would be talking to a 'precious clone' of you! So don't be so sure of yourself. Second of all, I did say that you'd be guarded by a robot…"

Reaching behind him, Eggman pressed a button that opened a door in the far side of the base. Espio heard robots marching and flying toward the battle.

"Third of all," Eggman continued over the noise of the robots approaching, "I already have escaped."

Espio puzzled over this cryptic statement for a bit, but was forced to focus more on the robots. "Amy!" he shouted. "We've got company!"

"I'm not finished with this Shadow yet!"

"Just go."

Amy jumped away and began a vicious homing attack at the oncoming robots. They began to fall, but many more came to replace them. Espio could tell she'd get tired out before Eggman let up. He had to find out what Eggman was up to.

---------

Vector fired an explosive bubble at his counterpart, who dodged the slow projectile easily. After a powerful bite, the real Vector stumbled back a bit, but stood his ground and jumped up to slam down on the other Vector. 

Rouge winced as her image kicked her powerfully. She hadn't done much physical work in a while, so she wasn't used to hand-to-hand combat. While the fake Rouge flew above, preparing to slam her, Rouge jumped backward and scaled the wall. Before the false Rouge could turn around to attack, Rouge jumped off the wall and tackled it.

The fake Shadow, doubleteamed by Amy and Shadow, fell first, shortly followed by the Cheese-less Cream. Now that the heroes knew they were merely fighting clones, the battles didn't seem so tough.

---------

Espio stared Eggman down for several minutes before making a grave observation. Hidden well under his headgear, Eggman was definitely wearing some kind of metallic device-

"No!" Espio shouted, realizing what had happened.

"Yes," Eggman disagreed. "Naturally I tested the cloning machine on Sonic first, but I knew that a clone of myself would be invaluable."

Furious, all of the implications of this revelation came to Espio in a flood. "So we didn't catch you," he sighed.

"Not by a long shot," the false doctor agreed. "And I'm afraid I have more bad news."

Espio looked around warily, then saw a pair of red flashing lights in the corner of the lab. Several more lights began flashing in different areas. He turned to Eggman and gasped. "You didn't-"

"I somehow forgot to include an electronic countdown when I programmed the self-destruct mechanism," the doctor said, beaming. He pressed a button and the trap door shut tight, to the confusion of the other heroes who had not heard Espio's conversation.

"Neither one of us knows how much time we have before the base explodes," Eggman commented. "I suggest you tell your friends to stop their futile fighting."

"You're wasting a lot of useful material," Espio said offhandedly.

"Are you kidding? I don't know how you people put up with each other. I couldn't stand to try to take over the world with these insufferable characters! Anyway, my statement from before stands. Game over."

(A/N: Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire! How will our heroes escape?

And I suppose some of you are wondering why I called the fic Menticide if there is in fact no mind control. Good question! The thing is, menticide only refers to mind control in a figurative sense; "killing the mind" is one way to look at the idea of mind control. The actual definition of menticide, though (from factmonster.com, you have to register with dictionary.com to see it), is: the systematic effort to undermine and destroy a person's values and beliefs and to induce radically different ideas. And isn't that what I've just done to you, dear reader? You were all so convinced in your belief that the heroes were being subjected to mind control, and then I came along and undermined those beliefs. Yes, I know it's a stretch, but how could I resist using such a cool word?

Whew. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter!)


	6. Destruction

(A/N: 2nd to last chapter. Sorry it took somewhat longer than the others.)

Chapter 6: Destruction

Espio stared helplessly at the computer, with no idea whatsoever of how to solve anything. He turned to ask someone for help, but Eggman blocked his way.

"You fool, do you think I'm wearing this device just for decoration?" he snarled, punching at Espio powerfully. Espio rolled his eyes and backflipped away.

"Sorry, doctor, you're not quite as intimidating as these guys," Espio retorted, gesturing at the other clones. He launched a dagger at Eggman's device, and the doctor barely swatted it away in time.

"You can't defeat me!" Eggman taunted, entering a fairly ridiculous-looking fighting stance.

----------

Amy continued hammering away at the incoming robots, trying her hardest not to let any past her. The onslaught seemed to be slowing down, or maybe it was just her imagination. Nuts, bolts and sweat covered the floor around Amy as she silently cursed Eggman for his persistence. She paused to recover her breath just briefly enough for the robots to get close to her, so she could smash them with her hammer.

----------

Tails found himself distracted during the fight, always wanting to look over at Eggman's impressive computer. The false Tails often punished him for not paying attention, but Tails had no interest in fighting his clone. After jumping at each other for a while, the Tails clone started throwing decoy rings at Tails, who simply jumped over them and spin dashed into the copy.

Charmy's clone was the next to fall; the young bee distracted the clone while Cheese snuck up from behind to deliver the final blow. Cream looked over to see Amy struggling, and rushed over to help. Charmy charged at the false Vector, while Shadow was busy fighting Sonic's duplicate. As strong as the clones were, they were no match for the power of the true heroes.

----------

Espio leapt into the air, kicking at Eggman's head. When the doctor dodged that, Espio did a backflip in midair and launched three daggers at the false Eggman. Unable to block them all, the doctor screamed as one of the daggers hit the device squarely, and it exploded. Eggman tumbled over and stopped moving, as Espio landed and turned desperately to the computer.

"Tails!" he shouted, throwing a shuriken at the false Tails to distract it. "Over here, now!"

Tails didn't need to be told twice. He jumped over his copy's attack and hovered over to Espio. The chameleon dashed over to Tails's replica to engage it.

----------

With Cream and Cheese's help, Amy finally defeated all the robots. Out of breath and barely able to stand up, Amy simply pointed to Tails at the computer and panted, "I think something bad's gonna happen."

Cream turned to the fox to see him typing furiously at the computer with a very worried expression. "Should we help him?" she wondered.

"No," Amy replied, struggling to her feet. "We've got to take care of these clones."

----------

Clones continued to be defeated, but the heroes were tiring. Soon only the false Sonic, Vector, Rouge, and Knuckles remained, but some of the heroes, especially the ones who were captured more recently, looked exhausted. 

"How's it going, Tails?" Sonic asked, summoning a Sonic Wind to blow away the fake Sonic and Knuckles. Knuckles's duplicate jumped into the air with Sonic's, and the echidna performed a powerful Fire Dunk. Sonic jumped up just in time, and the fake Sonic left a fairly large crater in the floor. Sonic jumped toward the wall and Triangle Jumped away to save Charmy from the fake Vector's powerful bite, slamming into the crocodile with a homing attack.

"Not good," Tails replied. "The place is going to self-destruct and I can't stop it."

"What?!" Shadow gasped. "Then why are we wasting our time on these-"

"Because you don't have a choice," Rouge's clone interrupted, kicking at Shadow angrily.

"Could you maybe turn these things off, fox boy?" Rouge sighed, dodging a Black Hole. 

"I'll take care of that!" Amy shouted, forcing herself to sound confident. She whacked Vector with her hammer, then yelped and jumped away to avoid his music beam attack. Rouge rolled her eyes.

"Give me a minute," Tails replied to Rouge, trying to determine what on earth Eggman was thinking when he designed this computer. 

----------

"Look out!" Cream gasped, as the fake Shadow woke up and launched a Chaos Spear at Tails. He screamed and collapsed. Big's clone stood up as well, cracking his fishing pole like a whip and hitting Sonic squarely with the spiked ball.

"Give up, fools," Shadow's replica taunted, skating between the heroes and Tails. "There's no way you're getting out of here before it self destructs."

Espio looked up desperately to see that the trap door was still shut. He scowled and yelled, "Tails, wake up! The lights are flashing faster now!" Receiving no response, he sighed and leapt over Shadow to the unmoving fox. Shadow charged at him, but the chameleon rolled out of the way. Shadow stopped his momentum before he crashed into the computer, but not quickly enough to avoid Espio's volley of shurikens. 

"Finally," Espio muttered, returning to Tails's side to try to revive him. Shadow's powerful attack had hurt the fox badly, and Espio still had no idea how much time they had left. He glared at the computer, observing the myriad buttons and LED displays that were completely incomprehensible. 

----------

"Tails! No!" Sonic shouted, bouncing on top of his counterpart, still wincing after Big's hit. "Espio, how's he look?"

"Not so good," Espio shouted back, tossing a dagger at the false Sonic. "He's barely breathing. I don't suppose anyone else around knows much about computers."

The base fell silent, except for the occasional fight-related sound effect. "Sit tight, I'll be right over," Sonic said eventually, putting on his best optimistic face. "I've been around Tails long enough to learn something-"

"You're not going anywhere, faker," the false Sonic disagreed, homing attacking at Sonic and the nearby Amy. The fake Vector, Rouge, Big, and Knuckles had managed to knock out a few of the heroes, who were completely exhausted now. Sonic looked around desperately to see only Charmy, Shadow, Knuckles, Cream, Rouge, and Amy still standing, and all of them were being vigorously blocked by the clones.

"I guess I have to do this," Espio said to himself, sitting down in front of the computer. He closed his eyes and let the spirits guide him to the correct button. "Spirits unite!" he shouted, opening his eyes and lowering his finger.

The trap door opened, but the lights didn't stop flashing. An LED panel lit up and displayed the numbers 00:14:59, then 00:14:58…

"We have fifteen seconds!" Espio announced nervously.

"So unite your spirits again, weirdo!" Charmy shouted, stinging at Big. "We can't get out of here!"

Rolling his eyes, Espio tried to call on the spirits for help again. When he lowered his finger, the clones suddenly stopped moving.

"You did it! Now let's get out of here!" Sonic shouted jubilantly, racing over to pick up Tails then jumping out of the door. The other heroes followed.

"Wait, you forgot-" Espio began to shout, but he was too slow. The other heroes had already escaped. 00:05:00, he read. "I can stop this in time, I know it," he said to himself, closing his eyes again.

----------

"Wait, where's Espio?" Shadow wondered as they moved away from the base. "He saved us all…"

"Espio!" Charmy shouted. "I was just kidding about the-"

Charmy was interrupted by a loud explosion.

(A/N: Well, I have nothing to say here, except I only made Espio as corny as Sonic Team did...Anyway, tune in next time for the conclusion!)


	7. WrapUp

(A/N: The finale! The conclusion! The…epilogue. You people are so pessimistic…lighten up, will ya? Enjoy!)

Chapter 7: Wrap-up

00:03:00…

Espio lowered his finger, but the spirits seemed to have abandoned him this time. The timer continued to count down, and the chameleon had no choice but to try to escape. He reached down and grabbed something, holding it tight to his chest, then looked up to ensure the door was still open.

00:01:15

He started running as fast as he could, watching the red lights flash quickly and ominously. _I hope they got everybody_, Espio thought, and by the time he finished this thought the timer read 00:00:05. With no time to turn around and check, Espio reached the door just as explosions started in the back of the lab. Startled by the loudness of the detonation, Espio shifted to invisibility instinctively.

----------

"I don't believe it," Vector said angrily. "There's no way he got caught in that."

"How could he have escaped?" Rouge wondered, trying not to sound too condescending. "This is the only way out-"

"I have to side with Vector on this one," Knuckles admitted. "That wouldn't be nearly enough to kill Espio."

"Well, it was nearly enough," a voice came from in front of them.

"_Espio_?" came the more or less simultaneous gasp.

Returning to visibility, Espio grinned at the heroes' shocked expressions. "You guys look surprised to see me."

"But-you-the bomb-" Rouge stuttered.

"When you're a ninja, five seconds is an eternity," Espio commented sagely. "It also helped that the explosions started way in the back."

The heroes chuckled, glad to finally be finished with this adventure. "What do you have there, Espio?" Tails asked, having been revived easily, like the others, with a bit of CPR.

"Oh, right!" Espio said. "I picked up one of the MCPE caps and one of Eggman's devices for you to take a look at in your lab."

"Wow, thanks!" Tails said, surprised at the chameleon's quick thinking. "I'll get right on it."

----------

"So how did Eggman get you guys?" Knuckles asked Sonic and Tails as they walked back to Tails's.

"I bet it wasn't tough for him to get you, Knuckles," Sonic teased. Before the echidna could comment, Sonic continued, "I happened to be running around in the forest that was on top of his base, so it wasn't very difficult for him to get me. Then my clone led Tails to Eggman too."

"For your information," Knuckles growled, "Eggman sent a robot after the Master Emerald, and when I attacked it, he had it teleport back to the base with me on board."

"I can't believe he's still out there," Sonic said dejectedly. "We're going to have to be extra careful from now on."

----------

"So, Rouge, Sonic's clone did beat you the first time?" Shadow wondered, not feeling comfortable walking with Sonic and the others. He started walking alone when Rouge joined him. The Chaotix and Amy and her friends were all chatting amiably. 

"Yeah, Eggman cloned me quickly and sent the clone back to pretend to 'help' you and Espio. I found out right away about the mind control trick from his old computer, so Eggman had to be sure to get me."

"And how did you get Chocola to deliver for you?"

"Oh," Rouge chuckled. "I didn't even know the thing was related to Cheese. I just saw it flying around one day and figured it would be useful to have a messenger. I happened to have an electronic whistle on me, so-"

Shadow stared at her suspiciously. "You carry around instruments often?"

"Well, it was intended to be a weapon…white noise and all. But I guess chao hear on a different wavelength than we do."

Shadow nodded. "Hey, if that device will make robots stronger, maybe Omega should wear it."

"Good idea. Where is he, anyway?"

"He must be still where we fought the Chaotix!" Shadow realized, turning around. "Espio, did you leave Omega back there?"

"Oh, I completely forgot about him," the chameleon admitted. "We'd better go get him."

Espio and Shadow sped off together, not inconspicuously racing.

----------

"Yep," Tails confirmed back at the lab, "the MCPE caps are 100% useless. He probably just came up with some random acronym involving mind control protection."

"Eyebrow," Big suggested for the final letter.

"That must be it," Sonic said with a smirk. "And the other devices?"

Shrugging, Tails looked apologetic. "Nothing special. I can't figure out how they made Espio appear visible, but the boost in power and speed is not very noticeable."

"I saw him break a rock," Espio disagreed, arriving with Shadow and Omega.

"Who won, guys?" Sonic grinned. Espio scowled.

"I do not understand," Omega admitted.

"Don't worry about it," Shadow smiled. "Just some friendly competition."

"The rock had already fallen all the way down the cliff, Espio," Tails replied, after Espio had explained the situation. "So Shadow, you figured out how to turn him on? I would have offered to help if I had-"

"No, he was-wait a minute. He was turned on when we got there."

"I believe my systems are configured to reboot after a while," Omega offered, not looking especially sure.

"Don't worry about it," Vector advised, shaking his head at Shadow's worried expression. "I think it's time for a celebration."

"Chao chao!"

"Cheese agrees with you, Vector," Cream commented.

The heroes laughed and began planning a party.

----------

At a faraway base, Eggman smiled as he watched the friends from a hidden camera. "Don't plan your celebration just yet, Sonic. This is only the beginning!"

(A/N: Oooh, a foreboding ending. Could that mean I plan to write another fic? Well, more than likely. Sorry this chapter is shorter than the others, but I didn't have all that much to say here…Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this fic despite all the frustrating cliffhangers and plot twists (if I had known Espio himself was going to review this, I might have ended the last chapter differently), and remember to review!

By the way, I notice this fic completely spanned the month of February. I uploaded it on the 1st and finished it on the 29th. Kinda cool.)


End file.
